The present invention relates generally to spraying and washing equipment and, more particularly, to a versatile, installable and centralized self-contained, fluid dispensing system which serves as an appliance-like device for use in a household and is selectively operable to dispense a variety of fluid mixtures through a fluid applicating device, such as a hand-held spray gun.
Heretofore, the prior art has offered various fluid dispensing systems which dispense, through a hand-held spray gun device, water and various detergents, concentrates, etc. The dispensing of such dispersants can be for such diverse purposes as automobile cleaning, lawn and garden care, snow and ice removal, etc. Therefore, it is desirable to have a versatile and durable washer system which operates to selectively apply different cleaning or treating substances to the objects to be cleaned or treated. In addition, it is desirable to minimize many laborious tasks involved in a cleaning operation. Often a significant amount of time and labor are expended in setting-up and disassembling the various components in known systems. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a system which is constructed and arranged to perform many of the cleaning and treatment functions primarily in a residential environment in a much easier, faster and more convenient manner. To achieve these desires there are, for example, efforts in the marketplace to sell hose-end products. These are products which are directly attachable to, for example, a garden hose and can be used for cleaning and/or lawn and garden care functions. Such products include individual containers in which the substances to be dispensed are housed and which are separately attached to the hose end. In general this approach is limiting since the container must be changed for different treatments and only household water pressure is typically involved.
Besides hose-end products, provisions have been made for so-called power washing type systems. Several examples of such systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,118,610; 3,318,535; 3,361,300; 4,176,793; 4,197,994; 4,585,168; 3,575,348; 4,621,770; 3,595,268; 4,850,536; and 3,608,824. There are, however, significant shortcomings associated with these known power washer systems. These shortcomings include the fact that they comprise a number of separate components which are often not readily accessible and which nevertheless require time-consuming assembly procedures to be joined together into an assembly which can function. Also significantly, they are not entirely centralized and easily installable into, for example, a residential environment as an appliance-like device.